Entertaining French

Madeleines

Name: Easy French madeleine recipe
Yield: 12
Cuisine: /french
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons (90 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled (plus room-temperature butter for the molds); 6 tablespoons (80 g) superfine sugar, plus more for the molds; 2 ∕ 3 cup (80 g) flour; ¼ teaspoon orange flower water; Grated zest & juice of ½ small lemon; 2 eggs, separated; Pinch of salt; Confectioners’ sugar, for serving

Rate now

https://healthimprovements.info/recipes/easy-french-madeleine-recipe/obn84ptv — Madeleines

Jump to recipe

by Annie Gray

Oct 01, 2019

A classic of French cookery, madeleines are delicate sponge cakes traditionally made in a special pan with shell-shaped molds. Families such as the Crawleys, seasoned travelers to France as they are, would have known them well. They’re served in season 1, when Matthew is still coming to terms with having a valet to serve him and helps himself to them, much to Molesley’s chagrin. Quick and easy to make, they were perfect for delicate, feminine afternoon teas but were also suitable for late-night snacking, and often filled the biscuit jars kept by Mary, Edith, and Sybil’s beds. This is an edited extract from The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook by Annie Gray, Published by Weldon Owen, RRP AU$55.00.

6 tablespoons (90 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled (plus room-temperature butter for the molds)
6 tablespoons (80 g) superfine sugar, plus more for the molds
2 ∕ 3 cup (80 g) flour
¼ teaspoon orange flower water
Grated zest & juice of ½ small lemon
2 eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
Confectioners’ sugar, for serving

Method

1.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter 12 madeleine molds. Dust them with superfine sugar, tapping out the excess.
2.

Put the melted butter, superfine sugar, and flour into a bowl and stir to mix well. Add the orange flower water and lemon zest and juice and again mix well. Stir in the egg yolks until blended.
3.

In a separate bowl, combine the egg whites and salt. Whisk by hand or with a handheld mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter just until no white streaks remain. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared molds.
4.

Bake until very lightly browned at the edges, 10 – 12 minutes. Let cool in the molds on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn out of the molds onto the rack and let cool completely. Sift the confectioners’ sugar over the madeleines just before serving.

Rate now

Recipe Notes

If you don’t have madeleine molds, standard muffin cups will work. In the Edwardian period, you could also get English madeleines, which were made in dariole molds (shaped like small flowerpots) and were often hollowed out, filled with jam, the tops put back on, and then iced. This recipe will also work for those, with or without the jam filling.